Thoughts of a monster
by moxie sauce
Summary: Maybe it wasn't all Azula's fault it all went wrong. This is the inside of her head. See the way she sees things.
1. Why? chapter 1

Why?

Curled up in a tight ball in the corner farthest from the door in my small cell I began thinking. For the first time in two years I was sane. I knew who I was and what I was doing. I _almost _knew how old I was. I would figure that out later. But first I had to act like I was still crazy. I couldn't let any of those

stupid guards, nurses, doctors and psychiatrists know I had recovered. For one they would treat it like some kind of miracle that I wasn't crazy anymore.

It wasn't a miracle. I was_ Princess Azula_. I used to think I was the fire lord but now once I had finished thinking things over I realized that Zu-zu and the water tribe girl had defeated me before my coronation was over.

I sighed quietly to myself, another failure. The truth was I couldn't leave this hospital. What was I going to do when they decided I was sane enough and kicked me out?

The honest truth was that I didn't know how to survive on my own. I used to be a princess. I used to get everything I wanted. So long as I remained a fire bending prodigy and stayed on father's good side. I was used to pain, war, blood, death and destruction. Deep down I guess I realized I couldn't

live without it. I liked watching _others _squirming in pain, whilst knowing that _I_ was responsible. The truth was if anyone knew what went on in my head I would have gotten into here a long time.

I smiled to myself. I guess the nurses and doctors with their tranquilizers _had_ done something. I'd been to groggy to think of anything violent for a long time. And now that I wasn't used to thinking like that it seemed like a waste of time to start again.

I thought of all my family members. Or at least all the important ones. First up was my father. Evil, cold, dark and heartless were the first words that came to mind when I though of him. I didn't even miss him. Why didn't I miss him?

"_Because he messed you up." _That weird voice at the back of my head told me. Deep down I tried to believe that but I realized it wasn't true. My father was just being my father. The cruel, cold heartless monster that he was. Who was I to talk when I had so nearly ended up like him.

Next was my mother, she thought I was a monster. That was all I could say. It was true. I heard her myself. I wasn't a monster in the beginning. It was _her_ fault. I seethed to myself in the corner of my cell. It was all my mother's fault. I remembered what had happened that day.

_Flashback_

_It was a sunny day. Zuko and Mother were out feeding the turtleducks. For some reason the __turtleducks fled whenever father was around. I didn't get to play much anyway. Father commanded __me to keep practicing. Mother never objected. I realized that was because she got to spend more_

_time with Zuko. Without me getting in the way. I didn't know that at first of course. But I didn't __mind. I wanted to please father._

_I was tiptoeing past mother and father's room late at night. I wasn't supposed to be up. I should __have gone to bed ages ago. But I loved to explore the town at night. I could practice my fire __bending at night too. So I could be even better. I had nearly passed their room when I heard_

_something that made me stop dead. "What about Azula?" Mother yelled. I flattened myself against __the wall, listening intently. _

_"She's a prodigy." Father stated calmly. "She need to practice more."_

"_Do you think that's right?" Asked mother. She had composed herself and her voice was softer._

"_Of course it is. When's older she can join the war. She can help us win." Father stated. _

_I shrank __back against the wall. Join the war? I didn't want to. I couldn't. Would father make me? The __questions swirled around in my head. _

_"She can't!" Gasped mother. _

_I blinked, was mother __defending me. Did she care? It was the first time. I listened harder. _

_"YOU'RE TURNING HER __INTO A MONSTER!" Mother said._

_I fled as soon as i heard that. I ran back to my room and hid __in my bed. A lone tear trickled down my cheek. I brushed it away. "Mother thinks I'm a monster." I __whispered to myself. Then I remembered what she's said. "Turning into a a monster not a monster __yet." I said to myself. I took comfort in that. _

_But two weeks later I was practicing fire bending._

_Mother walked in just as I defeated yet another teacher. I had burned him quite badly. Mother took __one look at him and told me that I wasn't allowed to fire bend for the rest of the day. "That means __she cares." I said to myself as I walked away. But as I was leaving I guess she didn't think I could_

_hear. "Why is my daughter such a monster." She whispered. _

_Why would you do that mother? Why?_


	2. waking up chapter 2

Waking up

I ticked mother off my list of family members. It was all _her _fault. Well maybe not _completely_ her fault. Father was in there somewhere. He was the worst role model I could have if I was going to grow up a sane, good, law abiding citizen with a clear record. I did have a choice. I just chose the wrong path. But

you have to admit that while I was making the decision it was the right one. It's not my fault that my father was defeated and my decision turned out to be the wrong one.

"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!" I screamed to my cell.

It was like my cell was filled with people. But that couldn't be true. There was no one here.

"QUIET!" Roared the guard outside.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed at him.

I was sure I wasn't going to get dinner later because of that. But I hadn't felt hungry in a long time. Though since I was sane I was beginning to realized how battered I was. My nails were long, dirty and ragged. My ribs were prominent under my clothes. I rubbed my stomach. I was starting to feel hunger

pangs for the first time in ages. I reached under my bed where

I'd been storing food for a moment such as this ever since I had arrived. I guess my survival instincts were still active, or I was just making sure some of the flood looked eaten so they wouldn't

force feed me.

A sob broke through my lips. I used to be the all powerful Princess Azula. The prodigy. The unbeatable. Now I was sitting in a cell. Ragged and pitiful. I took a deep breath. That was going to change. I would become Princess Azula again. No one could take the princess away from me.

I smiled and for the first time in ages it was my smile, my victorious you can't catch me smile.

Unlike all the maniac smiles I'd given the doctors and nurses just to scare them.

For the first time in ages I began to feel tired. Before I would stay up all night in mute. But I began to feel tired. I guessed before I just napped. But this time I _wanted_ to sleep. I wanted to dream.

I smiled as I lay down on the bed the cell hosted.

I closed my eyes and after few minutes I fell asleep.

For the first time I had a nice dream. Or at least how I thought the definition of nice was. I was fire lord. I didn't have a husband. I didn't need any man holding me down. Mai and Ty-lee were my ladies in waiting. They were still my friends. Mai had given up on Zuko a long time ago. It wasn't very certain if

he was alive or not. But that didn't bother me. The Avatar was dead. I had slain him myself and my father had been the proudest father in the world. He had already died and was missed throughout the fire nation. The entire the world was under my rule. But I still followed the old customs and called myself

the fire lord. I allowed each nation to be controlled by their respective leaders but I was still in charge. I smiled to myself as I sat on the throne. I had kept all the Avatars associates in a specially constructed prison in the palace. I felt it amusing the mess with them.

Ty lee was happily married and Mai was engaged. It was the perfect life for me. I had the world.

I smiled triumphantly. There was something missing but I didn't care. The dream ended all to quickly.

I hoped there would be a sequel tomorrow night.

I looked at the floor. My breakfast was already there and cold, I guessed I had slept longer than I usually did in a week. All in one night. I stared at the bowl of water. I had an idea. I ripped a length of cloth off the bottom of my mental institute/prison dress and set it on my bed. Then I stuck up one of my

fingers up in the fire bending position. I concentrated, I guess I was pretty rusty because it took longer than usual for the familiar flame to appear. The flame was small enough that the guards wouldn't notice it. I made the flame bigger in the palm of my hand. Then I held it against the bottom of the bowl.

The water slowly started to boil. I stuck my face above the bowl. The steam slowly washed my face. Like that I only used one bowl of water the wash most of my body. I dried myself using the cloth that I had ripped off the bottom of my clothes. I combed my hair using my fingers. It was greasy and lank. At

least I didn't have lice. I ate the rice they had given me for breakfast. I was quite hungry. Once I was satisfied I sat on my bed and started meditating.

"_I will get the old Azula back, I never loose." _I thought fiercely to myself.

For the first time in months I was waking up.


	3. Visitor chapter 3

Visitor

It was a few days later. I was completely cured. I sat on my bed. I had managed to clean my hair and I had kept washing my face everyday. I started eating and had gained some weight. My ribs didn't stick out so much. I had been practicing my fire bending. But only on a small scale. I still felt

confident that I could manage a full power blast if needed. I remembered what Mai had said about knife throwing. In truth they didn't let me have knifes in my cell. Even for eating. I only had spoons. But I had started collecting the spoons. The staff didn't think anything of it.

"Poor crazy girl." They said when they saw me.

It took all my self control not to blast them into next week when I heard them say things like that. I had been meditating a lot. Anger management.

My plan wouldn't work if everyone thought I was crazy angry all the time. I had to seem calm and docile.

"This is almost more that my pride can allow." I muttered to myself as I sat on my bed. "If it weren't for my freedom I would just give up." I paused to consider things. Then I said with a smile, "I also get my revenge." I laughed, quietly so the guards wouldn't hear.

I took out the spoons from under my bed. They were heavy metal. Perfect. I concentrated on my fire bending. I needed to make the flame hot. _Very_ hot. I managed the flame. It was now white hot.

Using the heat I began shaping the spoons. After a few hours and a lot of frustration I had created a pile of almost perfect knives. It went against my instincts to leave them almost perfect. But I didn't have time. I had other things to do.

I remembered what Ty lee had say about chi blocking. I recalled the precise places to hit.

"Always use two fingers, any wider and you could kill them." It wasn't my intention to kill anyone.

I wanted everyone I met to pass on a message. A message to my brother.

"You've got a visitor." yelled one of the guards outside.

I smiled. My plan was going to be put into action.


	4. the sun chapter 4

The sun

The door creaked open.

"Hello Azula." My visitor said gravely.

It was Uncle Fatso. Brilliant.

I gave him a wide smile, "Hello Uncle." I responded.

Uncle Fatso did a double take. "Well, you look better."

I smiled at him, "I feel much better." I said to him.

He seemed to be put at ease by my comment. Well that would be his downfall.

"This place must be doing you good." He said approvingly to me.

"I suppose so." I said in a offhand voice.

"Well, I'll tell Zuko you look better." Uncle said cautiously.

"Yes you tell him that." I said sweetly. "Oh and could you please pass on a small message to him."

"Of course." Uncle said, he seemed relieved. Probably thought he was in the clear. I smiled.

"So what's the message?" Prompted Uncle.

"Just this." I said. Then I struck.

I had the element of surprise which was good since in a Agni Kai Uncle would have bested me.

I decided not to risk throwing fire. I was rusty at that and that would make too much noise and draw to much attention to myself. The guards would be in here in moments with the fire approach.

Instead I went for the Mai and Ty lee approach. I threw my makeshift knives pinning Uncle's sleeves to the wall. Then I hit all the required places to immobilize him. Uncle went limp. I ripped the knives out from his sleeves.

"Uncle, can you hear me?" I asked him.

Uncle nodded with apparent difficulty.

"I just want you to tell zuzu that he broke a promise. And that I kept up my side of the bargain. Is that okay?" I asked Uncle, concern was in my voice. But not for the usual reasons. Most people

would be concerned that they had hurt their Uncle. I _was_ concerned that I had hurt him. But only because he might not be able to deliver the message.

I grabbed the front of Uncle's robe and looked him straight in the eye.

"You pass on that message, zuzu will know what it means. You pass on that message as if your life depends on it. Oh and by the way IT DOES!" I screamed the last two words.

"Hey, is everything okay in there." A guard asked. I recognized him as the guard who was constantly mocking me.

I smiled. Time for my revenge. I kicked the door down and used my fire to blast the guard down corridor. Surprisingly my fire worked perfectly. I lit the two blue flames in each of my hands.

"I'm going to enjoy this." I said. More guards came upon hearing the noise. I had the element of surprise, the upper hand in fire bending, my knives and Ty lee's chi blocking.

In around a ten minutes I was finished with my prison. Once I had finished with all the guards there was nothing to stop me from getting out of there. I knocked out one of the door guards with my fire and I kicked the other in the back. I heard his spine crack. I didn't wait to see if he was alive.

Then a felt someone hit me from behind. And it _hurt._

I spun around and hit whoever it was who was foolish enough to face me. I heard the crack of bones but I wasn't finished. Who ever it was had made me _hurt_. So for the first time in ages I shot lightning at whoever it was. I suppose I wasn't really paying attention to the strength of my blows.

Because when I turned around all I saw was a pile of ashes. I smiled, I didn't know why but I found the fact that I had killed that person extremely hilarious. I burst out laughing. I was still laughing as I walked out the door. But I stopped as I left the building. I had my message to deliver.

"I want whoever hears this to tell zuzu that Princess Azula is back and there's nothing keeping me from destroying him-" I paused, "AND THE REST OF THE WORLD." I screamed.

And just like that I walked off into the world. I used the back of my hand to wipe away a trickle of blood from the corner of my mouth.

I looked up into the sky.

It was so good to see the sun again.


	5. Broken promises chapter 5

Broken promises

I was free. I thought back to a week ago when I had broken out of my prison. I smiled, that had felt so good. I thought back to when I kicked that door guard in the back and broke his spine. I wasn't very sure I had killed him. I probably had. There weren't many people who could sustain such an injury. And there was that other guard who had been turned to a pile of ashes by me.

What about uncle? Could he deliver my message? I _thought_ I'd hit him in the right places. Had I done some permanent damage?

I thought back to the message I had asked him to deliver. Zuzu would know what it mean't, unless he didn't want to look back that far. The meaning of the message was simple. But only to the people who knew it's meaning. Which in the entire world was just me and him. But if he had told someone else...

I hissed like an angry snake. If he had told someone else, he was dead meat. I thought back to the day we had made the promise. I had only been five. He had been seven.

_Flashback_

"_Zuzu?" I had asked him. "Zuzuz? Why is dad so mean to you?"_

_He had smiled and ruffled my hair. "It's because I'm not good at fire bending." He had told me. _"_Dad likes perfect kids."_

_I had pouted, sticking out my lower lip, "If dad doesn't like you then... I don't like him!"_

_Zuko had smiled at me, "My headstrong little sister. Since mom is gone it's just the two of us __against the world isn't it?"_

_I smiled at him, I was already smart enough to know what that meant. "Zuzu? Can we promise each __other that we'll always look out for each other?" I asked him._

_He grinned, "Sure, you mean even when we're older right?" _

_I had nodded fiercely at him. "Always. Wherever we go. Whatever we do." _

_He had grinned at me and stuck out his hand, "Deal." He had said._

"_Deal." I confirmed. We shook hands on it._

I forced myself back to the present.

"I kept the promise." I whispered. A tear trickle down my cheek. I wiped it away roughly. I was Princess Azula. I shouldn't cry. I_ wouldn't._

When mom left things became hard for poor Zuzu. I helped him. Like the time he accidentally broke one of father's prized vases. I knew father would just about murder him when he found out.

And mom wasn't there to help dilute father's anger.

So when father did find out I told him it was me who had done it and I had accidentally broke it I was fire bending at a servant for leaving a pip in my cherry.

Father had laughed when I told him. "You're growing up just like me." He had told me. Just about bursting with pride. I had smiled and acted like that was the best compliment ever when actually I wanted to throw up when he said that. I ran back to Zuko. I told him what I did. He smiled and repaid me by sneaking me some of my favorite iced cakes which father had forbade me to eat.

That was basically how things had gone for many years. Me and Zuzu were closer than ever. My idolized big brother.

But when Zuzu insulted that general in the war meeting. I didn't see how things could possibly be worse. Father had wanted to _kill_ him, but I had persuaded him to just send him to find the avatar. I had saved his life. Before he went away I had visited him. We had promised that even when we were away we would still keep the promise.

I had, I had helped him when he came home. I couldn't help him when he was away though. But I still tried. It's the thought that counts.

I saw something moving in the bush near when I was sitting. I had been hiding in the forest for a week. If Zuzu had kept his promise this wouldn't even have happened. We would still be the best of friends. I hoped he got my message.

I shot lightning at whatever was in the bush. It turned out to be a rabbit.

I smiled and licked my lips, "Dinner."


	6. azula's message chapter 6

**I know the entire story is supposed to be from Azula's point of view but this is for when ****Zuko get's her message.**

Azula's message

Zuko POV

I was walking down the hall to the war meeting room. I wasn't going to discuss or plan a war. Well in a sense I was going to plan a war. If she wanted Azula could be an entire army and it seemed she was powerful as ever despite being stuck in the mental hospital for some time. I had invited "Team Avatar", all the war ministers, the Kyoshi warriors, Mai and everyone else who could help.

Uncle had recently had a run in with her so he was coming. Uncle seemed very eager to see me. I supposed he had some urgent news, hopefully about how to contain Azula.

By the time I got to the meeting everyone was already there. Nobody, except Uncle, knew the problem yet. Once I walked in everyone fell silent.

I took my seat at the front of the room. Aang was on my right side and Mai was on my left.

"This is what we know," I started, "Azula has escaped."

Katara gasped in horror. Mai raised an eyebrow. The war ministers looked at each other and started muttering amongst themselves. Sokka looked at everyone in confusion, "So what's the big deal?" He asked. "She crazy, unhinged, someone made a mistake while guarding her, right?"

I sighed, "It isn't like that Sokka. She managed to break out of the highest security mental facility in the entire fire nation. She also disabled every guard in the place and killed two other guards. Uncle was there the day it happened. Uncle can you tell everyone what happened."

Uncle stood up. "She wasn't crazy." Uncle said, "She had planned the entire attack. She had somehow come across some knives. She used knife throwing and chi-blocking as two of her attacks. She's been practicing. She kicked one guard in the back so hard she broke his spine. She also incinerated another guard using fire bending. She isn't crazy. She also asked me to pass on a message to you Zuko."

I sighed, "Let me guess, it's something like "I'm coming to get you." or "You are dead."."

Mai sniggered and Suki pressed her hand to her mouth.

Uncle shook his head gravely. "No Zuko. She told me these exact words: "I just want you to tell Zuzu that he broke a promise and that I kept up my side of the bargain. Is that okay?" That's what she said Zuko. It didn't sound like a threat. She said you would know what it meant."

I froze as soon as I heard that. It wasn't true. She _didn't _keep up her side of the bargain. I thought back, to the vase. The other small things. The iced cakes. The extra food. But wait she broke the promise when she didn't stop father from hurting me during the Agni Kai. I had immediately thought the deal was off. But what if it wasn't? What if father had wanted to do more then just banish me. Azula would have saved my life. And what about when we got back home after we were in Ba sing se? Azula had told father that _I_ had killed the avatar. So I would get the glory. When I asked her why she had given one of her selfish answers. But what if that was a cover up and she actually _wanted_ me to have the glory. What if she was _still_ keeping her side of the bargain.

I buried my face in my hands. I was the worst bother in the world. I had automatically assumed without looking at the facts. Azula had come to visit me after my fateful Agni Kai. She had tried to tell me something. But I had been worrying about myself too much to pay attention. I had assumed she was gloating. I groaned. I had gotten everything wrong. I had to set things straight. She probably thought the deal was still on even after she was defeated. She would have waited in the mental facility for three months before she realized I wasn't coming to save her and she decided to save herself.

I got up.

"Zuko, where are you going?" Asked Uncle.

"Yeah, you froze then went all quiet. Where are you going?" Asked Aang.

"I'm going to find Azula and set things straight." I said.

"How do you know where she is?" Asked Ty lee.

"Because she wants me to find her." I said as I left the room.


	7. Trust chapter 7

**It's back to Azula's POV**

Trust

I sat on a tree branch in my forest. It was kind of strange to call it _my_ forest. But I had been here, in the forest, for almost a month now. The birds have even stopped flying away when I make a sudden movement. When I first came here it was easy to see that animals distrusted me. Almost hated me.

The way when I walked through the trees every bird would fly away. The way when I went to get a drink at a nearby stream during the day, every dear would snort at me, toss their heads and gallop away. At first it angered me and I barbecued every animal I saw. But after a while I started becoming a little

calmer. And treating the animals a little nicer. After two weeks of that I think they began to trust me a little. I may have earned the trust of the animals. But Zuko had certainly thrown away _my_ trust. First I help him in every way I can. Treat him as a best friend, always look out for him. Then he defeats me

and throws me in a prison cell to rot. He had my trust at first, but now it would be a miracle if he managed to earned it again. But he _was_ my brother and I had always had a soft spot for him. So maybe it's be easier than other people. But then again, the only people who'd ever had my trust were him Mai

and Ty lee. The reason I was struck so hard my Mai and Ty lee's betrayal was because I had let them in, they were the only two female people on earth who could see inside my head. Who could actually see the _real_ me. I had showed them who I was. And they had thrown it away. I could understand why.

Mai loved Zuzu and Tylee could let me kill Mai. But I would never really _kill_ Zuzu. As soon as I had gotten down from the gondola I would have ordered the guard to stop. They would have had to obey me.

Mai and Ty lee would never truly win back my trust again. And the hope of Zuzu ever doing it was slowly fading away. I had already been in the forest for nearly a month. What was taking Zuzu so long? Didn't he care? What if he didn't? That mean't that I was waiting for nothing.

"You better come quickly Zuzu." I muttered. "Because I'm not getting any more trustful."


	8. forgive and forget chapter 8

Forgive and forget

I screamed out loud. A scream of pure frustration. The sound echoed off the rock walls of the canyon I was currently in. I was standing in the lightning stance. I used to be able to make lightning anytime, anywhere. Now that time seemed so far away, Mainly because I hadn't been able to produce even a was

wrong with me? When I was six I made lightning. It was because I was angry. My frustration combined with my anger had created lightning. From that day forward I had created lightning whenever I wanted to. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I do it now?

I hissed under my breath. I was loosing my patience. What little of it I had in the first place. I sighed, one of my old fire bending teachers had told me that to create lightning my mind had to be completely at peace. Which didn't make any sense. Back at home during the war with Zuzu gone and father in

power I hadn't had less mental stability. I mean, look at the situation. Before now I was in the stupidest situation ever with my crazy, power hungry father and my idolized big brother gone. I had no one to relate to. Mai and Ty lee couldn't know the _real_ me. In case they leaked it and father found out. I used

to shudder thinking about what he would do to me if he found out how much I hated him. But now I was on my own without anyone to yell at me or expect anything of me. I was free and I couldn't say and do whatever I wanted to. In the forest I spent around thirty minutes everyday yelling at sky about

mother, father and Zuzu. I'd insult father, complain about mother and wonder where Zuko could be.

It had already been two months. Zuzu still hadn't found me. I guess he didn't know me that well after all. I had been moving around a lot lately in the last month. I was just looking for a change of scenery. I had been in the canyon all of one day and was already extremely weary of it. For one I had to

constantly fight off these weird half bug half animal creatures that were into pestering me if I shot fire at their lairs. I mean really, picky much?

"Stupid weird picky animals." I muttered.

I half expected the animals to attack me. But they didn't I guessed they didn't have command of the human language. Though it felt good to tell them exactly what I thought of them. I wondered what I would tell Zuzu if I ever saw him again. Would I tell him that I hate him or that I really missed him.

Confusing, half of me wanted to scream at him when I saw him again and the other half wanted to start crying. I was so lonely all those years. It was all Zuzu's fault. If he never insulted that general he would have have been banished and my sanity wouldn't have gone to the dogs. It was all his

fault. I saved his life! For the love of all that's peaceful and good in this world (which is quite a lot now since the avatar stopped the war) how could he have abandoned me like that? Didn't he know that I was still protecting him? And with him gone I could just have about kissed all my iced cakes

goodbye. It had been ages since I tasted one. More than five years. I wished I could have one now.

I grabbed a rabbit leg leftover from yesterday and stuffed it into my mouth. Technically I wasn't hungry. But since I was in the wilderness all on my own no one could tell me it wasn't time to eat or anything like that. I could eat whenever I wanted to. I had been eating a lot lately. And crying a

lot too. I had the taste of rabbit and tears in my mouth most of the time. I guess my body was trying to make up for lost time. I hadn't cried before in years. I hadn't eaten properly for years. Ever since Zuko was gone father began watching me more closely. The forbade me to eat. Saying that I

couldn't be fat. But that wasn't true. I was hunting the Avatar. I don't think that's a beauty show. Nothing was fun anymore, that's when I started to go crazy.

Though if I looked at everything from the right point of view it wasn't father's fault, he was just being the power hungry psycho that he was. I decided to let it go. I had escaped form prison, I was free. Father was still rotting in prison. And I didn't care anymore.

Mother was harder, I suppose she gave Zuko more attention because father gave him less. I'd like to think that she would had done the same for me. She was just protective and protected Zuko because it seemed that no one was there for him. She was wrong though. Me and Zuko were a team

back then. I let mother go. I didn't care about what she thinks about me orwhat she thought about me. She doesn't matter.

I thought about Mai and Ty lee. Mai loved Zuko. I saw that. In that way I suppose I kind of envied her there. I could never tell her though. But I envied her and Zuko. I envied the way they made each other feel. When I watched them kiss I could hardly guess what emotions were going through them.

It was impossible, I had never experienced it. I didn't know anything about it. My one weakness.

Love.

I didn't _know_ anything about love and I wasn't planning to change that. Love was messy, unpredictable, stupid and I didn't need anyone else to hurt me.

I could understand Mai, I understood that Ty lee wouldn't let me hurt Mai, but I wasn't _really_ going to hurt her. I forgave Mai, I forgave Ty lee. It was okay, it was behind me. I took a deep breath, letting it all out helped.

I finally thought of the last person on my list, I had left him for last. Zuko. I winced. Why? He helped me in the past. I helped him all my life. Then he leaves me in a prison. He _knows_ I don't like being caged up. But he probably thought the deal was off. Why would he? Then something occurred to me. The

Agni Kai! The one where Zuko got scarred. He probably wondered why I didn't help him. He didn't realized that I had saved his life. I smiled. I had got it straight.

I took a deep breath and forgave Zuko.

A beam of lightning shot straight up into the air.


	9. Betrayed chapter 9

Betrayed

I was meditating in the canyon. I decided to stay there. It wasn't wasn't so bad. I had managed to forgive and forget in that space. The prison/asylum didn't help in the slightest. I needed to be free. Away from everyone so when I thought things through my emotions wouldn't jump out and hurt anyone.

When I meditated I pretended I was floating above a lake of fire. Thinking that I was floating on a lilly pad in the middle of a smooth calm lake of cool water didn't work for me. It just aggravated me. I was a fire bender so my lake was filled with fire. Water benders would have a water filled lake. So if fire bender had fire and water bender had water, what did earth benders have? A lake

filled with mud? No mud wouldn't work. It was a combination of earth _and_ water. Not completely one element. So a lake filled with pebbles?

I was triumphant when I thought about inconsequential things like that. It meant that I was calm and sane enough that I would attack everyone within a ten foot radius of me. Before I wouldn't have even _thought_ to worry about the other elements. My only thought was to help Zuko and obey father.

Not very intellectual thoughts.

So, going back to my theory on the meditating lake, earth benders had pebbles in their lakes. That mean't that air benders had air in their lakes? That couldn't be right. If it was then that mean't that the air benders would be sitting in a lake without anything in it as far as anyone could tell. The thought of the air benders sitting in a huge dugout hole while trying to meditate made me burst into

peals of laughter. I also seemed to be laughing a lot now days and rather than maniac laughter it was was the laughter that meant that I had experienced something genuinely hysterical.

I got up and bended back till my hands were touching the ground in a bridge. I was staring up at the exquisitely eggshell blue sky. It _was_ beautiful. I smiled out of happiness. I was struck about how truly happy I was. I had let every insignificant person in my life go and I was _free_. I couldn't say that enough times a day.

I stared up at the sky until a shadow fell across my face. Someone or something was blocking out the sun. I squinted up at the figure. An extremely familiar male figure with a scar over one eye.

Zuko.

I shrieked and fell out of my bridge. My head hit the rock.

"Ow." I said.

I moved into a sitting position and looked up again to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. When I found out I wasn't I mini screamed and gasped out the very articulate answer of: "Wha- what are you doing here? I'm not going back to prison! No way am I going to go through with that again!" I looked at him.

"I've forgiven you." I told him, all no nonsense and matter of fact. I'm not going to hold a grudge any longer." I smiled. "Besides. I think you got my message."

Zuko blushed as soon as I mentioned my message. "Sorry," He told me, "Really, seriously, sorry. I'm the worst big brother ever. You've been the best little sister in the world."

"You really think that?" I asked him, "After everything I've done? I've tried to kill you more than once Zuzu and I really haven't been the nicest person in the history of people." I informed him, all matter of fact and straight forward. I could take him on if I wanted to. But if he had brought the avatar I wasn't sure if I could stand my ground for that long.

"I know," He said, "But meeting you now make me feel as though you're okay."

"You mean you're not going to arrest me?' I asked him.

He shook his head.

"Did you bring anyone of your friends, like the avatar." I hinted.

Hr shook his head again. "Only I knew where you could be."

"Took you long enough." I teased, "I was beginning to think I'd have to live in the wilderness forever."

"Yeah, I was searching in this forest not to far away." He waved his hand in the general direction of the forest, "Then guess what I saw?" He asked me.

I didn't know? What _had_ he saw. Me yelling insults to the sky? No that was hearing. I shook my head, telling him I didn't know.

"You're lightning, right up into the air." He pointed up. "It was so high. How did you do that?"

I smiled and kept quiet.

"Anyways I've decided that you should come back to the palace with me." Zuko went on.

"Well I would like to go home but…" I didn't get to finish my sentence. Suddenly my feet were fastened to the ground and my hands had been swallow by the rock.

"Sorry," That short girl who always wore green from team avatar. I think her name was Toph. "This isn't a open offer. You're coming to the palace to answer a few questions."

Another boy jumped out from behind a rock, The water tribe boy. Sokka, I think his name was. "Then you're going to be locked up for good." He said.

My eyes started to fill with tears, I looked up at Zuko. "You said you weren't going to put me back in prison." The tears started to fall, he had _lied_ to me.

"Azula I," I didn't let him finish.

I spat fire out of my mouth, knocking Zuko backwards. He hit the rocks. I noted with satisfaction the cracking sound he made when he hit the rocks. I had gotten stronger it seemed.

"Zuko," I heard a girls voice yell. I looked up and saw that water tribe floozy. **(I personally have nothing against Katara but I don't think that Azula likes her much.)** Great, now look at what they made me do. I was just starting to think nice thoughts when they made me angry. I wrenched my arms up legs up. The rock broke and cracked. I was free again.

"That's impossible." The floozy whispered.

"No ones's that strong." Toph said.

"Oh yeah?" I yelled at them. "Think again!" I sent a blast of fire at the floozy that knocked her into the rock like Zuko. It felt good. Causing people pain.

I ran up to the earth bender and grabbed her face, smashing her head into the rock. She fell limp to the ground. I turned to the other water tribe peasant. I ran forward dodging his pathetic thrusts with his sword. I grabbed him by the neck and held him up dangling above the ground with the other one of my hands holding fire to his head.

"So," I start talking to him, "Where's the avatar?" I ask.

"Oh Aang? He couldn't come he was busy." The water tribe boy squeaked.

I smiled at him, "Pass on this message, will you?"

The boy nodded vigorously. "What's do you want me to say?" He asked.

"I want you to tell zuzu this." I threw him to the ground. "Trust is for fools, fear is the only reliable way." I said as I walked away.

"Trust is for fools." I whispered to myself as I walked away.


	10. please chapter 10

**Looks like we're back to Zuko POV for extra drama since all Azula's doing right now is**

**sulking around.**

Please

"What did you do?" I yelled at Sokka, Toph and Katara.

"Well, we kind of followed you." Katara said, looking at her feet. She was slightly daunted by Zuko towering rage.

"Yeah," Sokka said, "We thought we might need to help you."

"From Azula." Toph added, "We didn't know how'd she react to meeting you again."

"We figured it could get ugly," Katara finished.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with my fingers.

"I under stand why you followed me." I said, "But everything was going okay. Why did you bother to intervene?"

"Well," Sokka started, "Didn't you hear her? She said that she would like to stay in the palace again, that's all fine but then she added a "but". That basically means that even though she would like to she won't."

Zuko sighed again, "If you let her finish she might have just said something like, "but I don't want the avatar to take away my bending away" or she could have wanted to say something as simple as, "but I don't want to stay in the same room as before"." I looked at them witheringly. "Now she hates

us!"

"Oh." Toph said. "That's not good."

I glared at them, "It'll be a miracle if we regain her trust. You might even have shocked her into burning down a few villages and committing some murders!"

"Not good." Sokka muttered.

"Well if we got you into this mess then we're helping you get out." Katara said, faking cheerfulness.

"Brilliant." Toph said, "We get to confront one of our best friend's mad, psycho sister who also happens to hate us and have superhuman strength."

"Yeah." Sokka quickly said, glad for a change of subject. "Did you see the way she fought? She's even better than before if that's possible."

I sighed, "I know." I said, "She's become so good. And she was in _prison_ for three months previously."

"Exactly," Sokka muttered. He stood up and started pacing the floor. Then he stopped.

"I've got it!" He exclaimed.

"What?" We asked him.

"Azula is obviously- wait for it- a vampire!" He informed us. I wondered how he was able to keep a straight face while saying that.

"She's a what now?" Asked Toph.

"A _vampire_." Whispered Sokka dramatically. He switched back to his normal voice. "They're basically soul sucking demons that feed off the despair of others and live in swamps while terrorizing people and eating kids. But they can't go near a specific type of tree because that tree is their mother in law. Plus

the have giant fangs and howl at the full moon." He added.

Katara looked at him in disbelief. "I sometimes wonder if you're related to me at all." She told him.

"Because of my awesomeness?" Sokka asked cautiously.

"No! Because you're the biggest idiot I've ever met!" Katara yelled at him, "You just named the features of a bunyip, a werewolf and something that I don't even know the name of. What on earth is a soul sucking demon that feeds off despair?" She asked him.

"Well, did I get the fang part right?" He asked hopefully.

"I think they use their fangs to feed on blood, not despair." I volunteered.

"Blood, despair, same thing." Sokka dismissed in a off hand voice.

Katara was just ready to start yelling again when I interrupted, "I know for a fact that my _sister_ isn't a vampire, a werewolf, a bunyip or a soul sucking demon." I cleared up.

"Hey guys," Mai said as she walked into the room, she had been much happier since the end of the war. "Who's a soul sucking demon?"

"Aw, come on!" Sokka exclaimed pleadingly, "It wasn't that stupid!"

I patted him on the back, "It was." I said to him.

"Okay, I'm leaving." Mai said as she backed out of the room.

As soon as she was gone I groaned.

"Great!" I said sarcastically, "Now Mai thinks I'm crazy, that's so wonderful."

Sokka shrugged, "At least you aren't the soul suck-"

Toph interrupted him before he could finish.

"The point is we're going to help you find Azula, and we are going to help her too. End of story."

"Thanks guys." I smiled at them.

"Well as the members of team Avatar we're better off if we stick together." Sokka grinned at us.

He pulled us all into a crushing hug.

"Aang isn't even here." Gasped Katara.

Sokka released us. "Oh yeah." He said. "Can we call the team "team sokka" for now?"

We glared at him.

"Okay," He said quickly. "We'll keep with team avatar."

"Okay." I said as soon as I had caught my breath again. "Let's go find Azula!"

"I'm in." Katara said.

"Me too, I want to prove she's a soul sucking demon." Sokka said.

Toph rolled her eyes at Sokka and said, "Well, you still owe me that field trip so count me in."

I looked at the window, "Please forgive me Azula. Please." I whispered.


	11. Hate chapter 11

**We're back to Azula's POV. She's pretty angry. Uh oh.**

Hate

Hate is such a strong emotion. At least that's what mother used to tell me. Hate is a word that I know all too well. My hate is directed towards everyone and everything in the world that I'm currently in. I used to think that I didn't hate Zuko but now I do. Now I _despise_ that ignorant lying, lowlife. Maybe

that insult was a bit to strong. Some part of me refused to believe Zuko would deliberately _lie_ to me. That was the thing about Zuko. I've never seen him tell an outright lie before. _I_ was the lier. Maybe part of me had finally rubbed off unto him. In that case I should have congratulated him. But what would

I say? I visualized it.

"Azula? What are you doing here?"

"Well done Zuko, you can finally lie properly."

That sounded stupid. Everything in my life sounded stupid. Right from my parents (one in jail and one banished years ago) to my hair. My friends had abandoned and betrayed me (but I've forgiven them) and my brother just lied to me and tried to throw me in jail. If I tried to say my life was going

great it was be the biggest lie I'd ever told.

I'd been practicing lying ever since I was old enough to talk, but it was only when I was about seven that I'd really perfected the art of lying. I would lie to my father to help Zuko. Lying to my father when I was little was the scariest thing I'd ever did. My father was _cruel_. Watching what he did to Zuko

terrified me. I lied only to save Zuko and not for personal gain. That would have irritated father the most. If I was lying to help _myself_ and hurt others my father would have been almost _happy_ that I was lying, as long as it wasn't to him. I hated him for that.

I hated lots of people from the beginning of my life. I hated father for being so mean to Zuko and for keeping me in constant fear. I hated mother for showing favoritism and for what she said so long ago.

I _almost_ hated Ty lee for being so much better at acrobatics than me. I _almost_ hated Mai for finding love, however fleeting. And finally I _almost_ hated Zuko for- for being Zuko. He was always so much stronger than me, he could keep holding on so much longer. That annoyed me. I hated it when

anyone was better at something than me. I felt uncomfortable, insecure. When I was little I created my own little motto that I stuck to through the years. It was more of something that I whispered under my breath when ever I met anyone: "What you can do, I can do better." I tried to make that line

true when ever I met anyone. In result of that drive I consequently learnt how to ride an ostrich-horse like a professional in a circus. I knew how to swim better than a fish. My skills with a sword almost bested the famed master Piandao. Half of the skills I possessed hadn't ever been used since I learned

them. I hadn't gotten the chance. Nobody knew I could use a sword, ride an ostrich-horse while doing a headstand, swim like an eel or many of the other useless skills I had learned only to make myself feel less insecure. I had to admit I was an idiot. I smiled wryly to myself. I would never admit to anyone

that I thought I was an idiot. I remembered what I had done so long ago. Or rather I hadn't done it to myself. It was like the light at the end of a dark tunnel. I had run too fast in my hast to reach the light. On the way I had tripped and been fooled by a closer seemingly warmer light. I had run to that one

instead. By doing that I had abandoned reality. I remembered the night I had that dream.

_Flashback_

_I woke up. Drenched in my own sweat. The dream had been so real. It was my perfect day. Zuko and __I had been feeding the turtleducks together. When I asked him if he thought I was a bad person he __had smiled and hugged me saying that I couldn't be a bad person and that I was his best friend. __Just as I _

_relaxed and smiled. I appeared. Well, it couldn't have been me. But she looked exactly like __me. She was dressed in the robes of the fire lady. She smiled at me and set the garden on fire. In one __movement she grew claws and with one swipe raked her claws across Zuko's chest. His blood __spurted out in _

_fountain. It splattered across his murder's face and she gave him a smile as he __collapsed dead onto the fire blackened grass. "Zuko!" I screamed The murderer in fire lady robes __turned to me and smiled at me while walked towards me. I coward backwards. But all she did was __merge into my chest. She _

_actually merged into me like she was part of me. I collapsed onto the __grass on all fours and stared straight into the pool of water where only a few seconds earlier I had __been feeding the turtleducks with Zuko. I saw my reflection and let out a gasp of pure horror._

_My eyes were blood red._

_I jerked away from the pool and started laughing. At first it was broken and humorless but then it __turned hysterical. I straightened up and surveyed the burning garden with Zuko's dead body at my __feet. I let out a long hysterical scream then I woke up._

_There in my bed so long ago I began to laugh. That's when my madness finally surfaced. So long __ago._

I jerked myself back into reality. That's when I heard a rustle of leaves behind me.

My eyes narrowed. Had someone been watching me all this time?

My insecurities' faded away before the first emotion I could summon surfaced.

Hate.


	12. friends chapter 12

Friends

"Whose there?" I asked in a steely voice.

I wasn't going to scream. That would just scare whoever it was away. And I wanted to have a chance to let out some of my emotions out on them first.

I heard a scampering sound and then before I could process things fast enough was pinned to a tree with the tip of a knife blade pressed to my throat.

"Don't move." My captor hissed.

Impressive. Whoever it was managed to take me by surprise. Not bad, unfortunately not good enough.

My captor hadn't pinned my hands. I lit a fire in one and pressed it to my captor's back. Whoever it was yelped as the fire burned through the thin cloth covering their back. They jerked the dagger away from my neck to put out the fire. And that was when I got a good look at whoever it was.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. It was a girl. Around my age. But more surprisingly she was dressed in green. The colour of the earth kingdom.

"Who are you?" I asked her.

Her lips mashed together in stubborn line and she shook her her. It seems she wasn't going to tell me. Fine.

I lit a flame in my hand and prepared to use force to get her to talk.

As soon as she saw the flame her eyes widened. I suppose she was surprised by my fire bending. But she already saw me fire bending. It couldn't have been that.

I was surprised ,to say in the least, when she dropped to her knees and bowed down to me.

"Princess Azula." She said.

It seemed she recognized the colour of my flame. Blue, unlike the normal orange and red colours.

But why would an earth kingdom citizens bow to me? I wasn't very popular there.

"Why are you bowing to me?" I asked her.

"Well.." She hesitated at first then said, "You're my idol!"

I looked at her in confusion. Her _idol_. But all earth benders hated me, the entire world hated me.

"What do you mean?" I asked her carefully.

"Can I tell you everything and you promise you won't kill me?" She asked me.

Strange, this girl obviously knew me. My temper could sometimes get in the way. Her story would probably give me a reason to be angry.

But it wasn't my game to give promises.

I shrugged. And sat down. It would make listening easier.

"Well, obviously I come from the earth kingdom. I came here to look for you." She started.

"To _look_ for me?" I questioned. This girl came to look for _me. _That was odd.

"It comes later in the story." She told me.

"Well, when I was born my parents named me Terrae. I'm not sure why. I think it was in relation to terra, which is the latin word for earth. But in truth the only words or phrase that link to terrae is the latin phrase "Amittere legem terrae"." She recited bitterly. "I suppose my parents ever realized that, or

the meaning of the phrase. It means literally to loose the law of the land. I certainly lost it. When I was five my mother died. I don't know how she died. My father never told me. I never even knew if my mother really died." She paused to consider. "She just disappeared one day and father got all teary

whenever she was mentioned. I just assumed she died.

"Two years after her death I got a stepmother. She was suspicious to say in the least. I didn't know anything about her. My father had found her half drowned on the sea shore which (to me) meant that she couldn't be earth kingdom. She said her boat had sunk on her way to the earth kingdom,

confirming my suspicions that she wasn't earth kingdom. There were only two other options, fire or water. I didn't think she was from the water kingdom, her skin was too pale. So I assumed she was from fire.( Air had already been wiped out anyway.)

"I was confused then as to why a fire kingdom citizen was in the earth kingdom. My new mother wouldn't even tell me her name, that confused me further but I out my suspicions aside and we lived quite normally for a few months. Then she got pregnant. It was after the baby girl was born that I started

to show the symptoms. The symptoms of an incurable mental illness that my mother had suffered with. I began to be aggressive. I would try to harm any living thing I saw, including my baby sister." She paused for a second as I took all this in. It was quite interesting. I wondered who her mother was, I

had a slight suspicion I knew. "That was when my stepmother suggested that I be put into a asylum. She didn't want me to hear but I did anyway, later that night I crept into my parents room and checked all their documents. My mother, my real mother, had been sent to the asylum. She had been

diagnosed with the same illness. My father hadn't gone to visit her since. He hadn't even _cared_. He had taken away someone precious to me and consequently I would do the same. I was about to leave when I spotted my stepmother's Journal. I opened the cover and checked the name inside.

My stepmother used to be the firelady. Ursa." She stopped again and I gasped. Of course I had suspected this but it was shocking to have my suspicions confined. This must mean that me and this girl, Terrae, were sisters. By some means anyway.

"Continue." I told her.

"Well, that night I killed my baby sister and ran away." She tuned her head away.

"You _killed _your baby sister." I confirmed.

She nodded, "I heard about you. Then I heard you escaped from the asylum so I came looking for you." She smiled at me. "I was hoping we could relate."

I nodded, "I have been in a similar situation." I paused then murmured, "So mother managed to ruin two lives."

Terrae looked at me. and for a second her gaze reminded me of Ty lee, but the expressionless voice she used reminded me of Mai. I felt a pang in my chest. I couldn't deny that I missed them.

"I was hoping we could be friends." She said to me.

"Friends?" The words sounded unfamiliar on my toung. I had never had a _friend_ before. At least one that I could confide in. I was paranoid about father finding out, but now that he was in jail…

"Okay, friends." I said.

I tasted the way the word sounded.

I smiled. I never had cause to use that word before.

But now I did.


	13. Cut chapter 13

Cut

Two weeks later me and Terrae were friends. Or at least to the point when I began to become comfortable with her presence. I had even began telling her about myself. I had told her about the promise I shared with Zuko. She had sympathized and agreed that Zuko was an idiot with me. I told her all about

father and how much I hated him. I didn't have to list the reasons mother was an idiot. She could already contribute to half of them.

I actually _liked_ her, she was funny. She had the sensibility and monotone voice of Mai at some times and the wide eyed innocence and cute ignorance of Ty lee. She alternated between the two in a series of violent mood swings. The mood swings were annoying but who was I to talk when I was a victim of

them as well.

I wasn't sure what mood she was in right now, that is until she ran up to me eyes wide and I decided she was in Ty lee kind of mood.

"Have you heard?" She asked me.

"What?" I asked her in a bored voice.

"Fire lord Zuko is giving a announcement at the palace in three days. I have a feeling it's going to be about you. We are going." She stated.

"You can call him Zuzu." I told her.

"Well okay, Zuzu is a giving an announcement and we're going. Hey, that is kind of fun."

"What?" I asked.

"Calling him Zuzu, I can see why you do it. But did you hear what I just said.?" She asked me urgently.

I nodded lazily, "You want to go to the palace while half the fire nation is hunting me."

"No! I mean yes but in disguise." She said.

I looked at her. In what? _Disguise?_ "That will never work." I told her, " I'm Zuzu's sister."

"That's why it will work, they will never imagine that you will go." She told me.

"I'm in the cloths from the hospital," I informed her, "And you're ripped earth kingdom dress is the picture of obscurity."

She was halted for a second, then she said, "We're going." She used the firm tone she always does when she means something so I just nodded and shrugged.

Her face broke into a huge smile and she said, "I'll be right back, I just need to go steal some stuff."

Once she was gone I sighed. I didn't want to see Zuko. But at the same time I did. I knew that if I did reveal myself and demanded to know what his problem was I would be captured and thrown into prison before I could say anything, let alone something like "Zuko I hate you."

A few hours later Terrae came back, in her arms she held two fire nation dresses, they weren't overly fancy but they weren't the kind of thing rice farmers would wear.

"Where'd you get these?" I asked her. I wasn't particularly interested but I was trying to make conversation. I needed have worried about making conversation, Terrae was all too eager to talk.

Definitely in a Ty lee mood.

"Well, I saw this big house in this village and I went in through a window. There was this bedroom with this wardrobe filled with dresses and there was a casket on the table full of jewelry and weird tubes of coloured watery paint stuff. There were also little boxes full of sparkly stuff. I took some of this red

stuff and a little of this black stuff for you." She said to me, "I don't know what it is but I figured since you used to be a princess you would know."

She dumped a stick of lipstick and a little tube of liquid eyeliner with a brush on my lap. "What are they?" She asked me.

"Well," I started, "This tube of black stuff and this brush is eyeliner. You paint around your eyes with it to make your eyes seem bigger. And the red stick is lipstick. You paint your lips with it to make you're lips seem prettier I guess." In truth I wasn't sure why people used makeup.

"Ooh, can I try?" Asked Terrae.

"If you're going to put on makeup then put on your new dress first." I advised her. "I'm going to go get some water in case we mess up with the makeup."

"Sure!" She exclaimed. She ran to get her dress as I walked toward the small stream that we drank from daily.

I grabbed Terrae's knife on the way out of out makeshift campsite.

I stared at my reflection in the water. If I really was going to go near the palace Zuko couldn't recognize me.

I raised the knife to my hair, feeling the tugging sensation as it cut through it.


	14. and your enemies closer chapter 14

And your enemies closer

Me and Terrae were standing in the crowd at the base the the palace. Zuzu was standing at the base of the steps to the palace. The avatar wasn't next to him, which puzzled me. Where was the avatar and all his friends. The one standing next to Zuzu was Mai. Strange. If they were going to make

an announcement about me then wouldn't that be about public peace or something like that. I frowned.

I didn't like this.

"This is a bad idea." I whispered to Terrae, being extra careful to make sure nobody could hear.

"Agreed, why is Zuzu's girlfriend up there?" She asked me.

"Don't call Zuzu Zuzu when we're in plain hearing distance of other people." I hissed at her.

"Sorry, but you just called him Zuzu when you told me _not_ to call him Zuzu." She informed me.

"Yeah, well, I'm Princess Azula, only _I_ can call him Zuzu." I spluttered to her.

"Don't say you're Princess Azula!" Terrae whispered, her voice growing louder.

"You just yelled it!" I nearly screeched.

"Well, um, I had a nervous spazz then, I was meaning to say don't say your Zuzu!" She retorted.

"I never said that." I mini-screamed at her.

"Never said what?" Asked a voice behind me. I just about jumped five feet in the air.

I turned and saw the last person I wanted to see, the water bending peasant who was friends with the avatar.

"Oh uh, um." I spluttered while trying to find the right answer.

"She was just telling me that she never said she was a idiot." Terrae said, relatively smoothly.

"Oh, friend argument." The water bender said to us.

"Exactly," I pretended to sigh.

"Yeah, I argue a lot with my friends." Said the water bender. "You know Toph Bei Fong?"

We nodded like two nodding rabbit-dogs in a shop window. Please, please, please, go away. I was almost begging in my head. In truth I would never _really_ beg.

"Yeah well," She continued, completely oblivious of who she was talking to, "Me and Toph fight a lot."

"Wait, _you_ know Toph Bei Fong? But that means," Terrae was finally grasping the gravity of the situation.

"Yeah, I'm Katara." Oh so her name was _Katara_. I could remember that.

"It's so nice to meet you!" I said to her, like I honestly didn't know who she was before, and I was _really_ glad to meet her.

"Oh thank you!" Katara said, "Oh by the way." She turned towards me. "Your makeup is really nice."

"Oh, um thanks!" I said. What was happening? I was having my _makeup_ complimented by one of my worst enemies. Though the compliment was kind of nice. I had never got a real compliment on my looks before and if I did I wasn't sure if they were complimenting me or just sucking up because

they were scared of me.

"Thank you." I smiled as Katara.

She smiled back.

"So do you know what the announcement is about?" Asked Terrae.

"Oh, it's about Mai. She's pregnant!" Squealed Katara.

I wasn't sure how I was supposed to react so I settled for copying Terrae who was jumping up and down while mini-screaming.

"I had just sank to an all time low." I muttered to myself. As I jumped up and down. "But this is kind of fun." I added.

"I know!" Katara squealed. "Isn't it cool!"

Me and Terrae stopped jumping.

"Very cool." Insisted Terrae earnestly.

"Extremely cool." I added.

"Precisely! I myself can't believe it!" Katara confided in us. Then she laughed, "But where are my manners?"

"On mars." Terrae muttered to me.

I giggled.

"What was that?" Asked Katara.

"Oh, I was just saying how the last time I saw a water bender who was a girl I immediately ran up to them screaming, "ARE YOU KATARA!"." Terrae said, invented wildly.

Katara laughed out loud. "Anyways," She said to us, "You know me, so who are you guys?"

"Oh, um, my names Terra. I'm from the earth kingdom." Terrae said. She looked pointedly at me.

"I'm, uh, Hui Ming from the fire nation." I said. Hui Ming? Not the best name but it would do.

"Really! You guys are friends and you're from different nations." Katara said excitedly, hers eyes shining.

"Um, yeah." I said. Where was this going?

"You've got to come with me." Katara said, "You guys have _got _to tell Zuko about this_._ The world really is coming to peace!"

She grinned at us, "Come one." She beckoned.

Terrae looked at me, "Time to run away?" She asked me.

I shook my head, "Behind enemy lines." I told her.

Her eyes widened, then she smiled. "Agreed." She told me.

"We're coming." She called to Katara.

"Hold your friends close." She muttered to me as we walked behind Katara.

I nodded.

"And your enemies closer."


	15. Bring it on chapter 15

Bring it on

I stood in the fire nation throne room with Terrae. Luckily the people who could identify me, namely Zuzu and his now pregnant wife Mai, weren't in the room. The design of the room had changed since I'd last been in there. Zuzu had taken down the majestic portraits of father and tried to make the room a little less formidable by adding blue, green and orange (the other nation's colours) to the usual mix of gold and red. I had to admit the new changes weren't bad; they gave an airy feeling to the room. But all the same, I didn't like them. There was sneaking suspicion about betrayal in my mind. Betraying the fire nation by putting the other nation's colours in the throne room. I tried to bottle up the feeling in a corner of my mind, I couldn't appear to nervous. The other people in the room could interpret it the wrong way.

Terrae was currently having a animated conversation with Katara about makeup. I hoped she didn't give away the fact that she knew almost nothing about the subject. Acting as a high class earth kingdom subject, who had lost her parents in the war, meant that she _should_ know a lot about makeup and hairpins and such. I could only hope the short introduction of makeup I gave to her (while I was helping her put it on) was enough.

I was currently standing next to Toph, the earthbender of the group. I had always liked Toph. She was different from the rest of the group. Different from the rest of the people I had met. She wasn't a completely open book. Like Terrae her young innocent look concealed something on the inside. I couldn't read her like I did for other people. Unlike Ty lee and Mai. Everyone though Mai was hard to read, I had to admit she wasn't easy. If all these people were books then Toph and Terrae would be closed. The avatar and my father would be wide open. Zuzu, Mai and Ty lee would be partially open. And The water benders would be completely open, but facing the wrong way. Water benders were always a mystery. Such as Katara. You thought you knew her, she proves you right by doing exactly what you expect but then she jumps out behind you and does something completely unexpected. Her brother was the same, only not as cryptid. His unexpected actions are a lot less often.

"So," Toph said to me, breaking the silence, "You a firebender?"

I was struck for a second, was I? Could I? Would they see the similarities? A firenation girl with blue flames? Well, I could fix the blue flames at least. My hand fingered the bending suppressants in my pocket. Terrae had stolen them. She had said we might need them. My fire was to powerful to be completely taken away by one suppressant, but the small innocent looking pills could decrease it's power, turning it back to a normal orange red colour. I decided to risk it, I was too proud of my fire to deny it.

"Yes," I said to her.

"Cool," She said. Then she unexpectedly added, "Your heart rate sped up when I asked you. What's wrong?"

Oh _agni_, I wasn't as good a lair as before. I cursed the universe in my head while trying to find a suitable answer.

I decided to settle with an unexpected one myself, "A female fire nation bender who appeared at the fire lord's speech exactly a few months after Princess Azula escaped, seems like a big coincidence, doesn't it?" I threw at her.

Toph digested this, then grinned, "You're honest at least." She said. "You wanna show me?"

"Show you what?" I asked with a sinking feeling, I was sure I knew.

"You're fire bending moves. We can do a duel if you like, earth against fire." She answered.

A duel? Earth against fire? Sounded good. The duel would distract her from the way I bended. Besides, it had been a while since I had fought a duel.

I smiled at her, "Sure." I told her, "A duel sounds good."

Toph exhaled, "Good, for a while I thought you might all be anti violent like twinkle toes."

"Like _who_?" Who on earth was twinkle toes? That was the thing about Toph, unexpected.

"Oh, I forgot. Nobody except the team knows his nickname. Twinkle toes is Aang." She explained,

"I give other nicknames to other people, Zuko is sparky, Katara is sugar queen or sweetness. And Mai is sunshine."

I splutter, "Sunshine?"I asked before I can stop myself.

She grins at me, "Yeah, I go for opposites with her, sunshine, summer, flower girl."

I smile. I was starting to like Toph even more.

"So," She said, "We gonna do a duel or what?"

"Let's take it outside." I tell her.

"Sure thing," She calls to Katara, "Hey, Sweet stuff!"

Katara turns to face her, "Yes Toph, What is it?" She asks.

"Me and, wait a sec," She turns to me, "What's your name again?" she asks me.

"Hui Ming." I tell her.

She frowns, "Not much of a nickname I can make with that, but anyways. Me and Hui Ming here are gonna go outside."

"Sure," Katara says. Then she goes back to her conversation with Terrae.

As we walk out I ask her, "Why didn't you tell her we were dueling?"

Toph shrugs, "If I told her I would have to go through a long speech about how not the duel people I've only just met."

I cluck my tongue. Just like mother used to.

We make it to the Agni kai arena, and Toph yells for all the servants to get lost. As soon as they see her they scurry away like ants. While Toph's yelling scares away the servants I quickly grab an anti bending pill out of my pocket and swallow it. The pill's affects are instant. I light a flame in my palm and it's orange with only it's bottom tinged blue.

As long as my flames aren't openly blue it's okay. I turn to face Toph whose just managed to scare off all the servants.

"So," I ask her, "You ready?"

She nods then says to me, "You know, fighting in _that_ dress may be a problem."

I look down to the skirt I'm wearing and I have to agree.

"Well," I say to her, "You're blind and there's no one else here so I've just got one thing to say."

She looks at me in mock confusion, "At what may that be?"

I grin,

"Bring it on."


	16. story chapter 16

Story

Toph is the first to strike. She rips a chunk of rock from the floor of the courtyard and throws it at me. I dodge that, but as her blows become more and more numerous I find them more and more difficult to dodge. I have to go on the offensive. I throw fire at her but she bring up a wall of rock out of the floor

and that take the blow instead. She throws another rock at me and I shoot fire at it, causing it to crumble into a million pieces. She throws another rock at me and I flip to avoid. Like she warned my skirt flips up but nobody can see it so I don't care. The adrenaline of the fight is finally getting to me. I've ]

forgotten how much I've missed it. I flip, dodge, jump and run like I'm fighting my father, but somehow something's different. I'm not doing as well as I used to. It's after I commit a high jump and try to shoot fire out of my feet that I realize the problem. It's my shoes and cloths. The fancy dress with the

long skirt, wide sleeves and pinching waist combined with the high heeled shoes I was wearing (that Terrae insisted were in rage right now) didn't increase my fighting skills or agility. I might have looked good but my fighting wasn't perfect. As Toph ripped up another rock from the floor I kicked the shoes off

and shot fire at the rock she was lifting into the air. From then on my fighting was acceptable. I would have done better without the dress but if I burned it off I would be fighting in my bindings. That didn't bother me so much, the thing that worried me was what was I going to wear once the fight was over. I

flipped as another rock flew mere centimeters past my ear. Was I going to win this fight? Or should I let Toph win. It only took a few seconds for me to make up a logical answer. I would let Toph win. Being the world's best earth bender meant that not many could have bested her in a fight.

Including an ordinary fire nation noble named Hui Ming.

I jumped and as I landed I pretended to stumble. Toph was fast, she quickly pinned me using rocks.

I had to commend her, her fighting wasn't bad.

Toph smiled, acknowledging her victory, then she reached out a hand and helped me up.

"For a fire nation noble you fight good." She complimented me.

I faked a look of mock surprise, "Didn't you hear?" I asked her, "The new standard for fire nation nobles isn't about pouring tea anymore."

"I get you," Toph said to me, "Sunshine, Ty lee, Sparky, Azula. I don't think any of them would know a tea cup from a fishing hat." She paused, "Except for Sparky."

"Yeah," I muttered, "Uncle."

"What was that?" Asked Toph sharply.

I cursed the universe for the second time that day, why did I say uncle?

"What?" I asked her. I had learned that denial could sometimes be your greatest weapon.

"Oh, I thought I heard... never mind." Toph said hurriedly.

I looked at her suspiciously. Why was she backing down?

I decided to let it drop.

"So," Said Toph, "Can you tell me a story?"

A strange request. I wanted to know why.

"What kind of story?" I asked cautiously.

She shrugged, "Any story."

"Can you tell one." I asked her.

She nodded, "I'll go first. I guess."

She started telling a story about a little blind girl, born to a prestigious earth kingdom family. It only took me a few sentences to realize it was her. I listened to her closely.

She told me about how her parents hid her from the world for twelve years. How no one except the parents and the servants even knew she existed. How she had never had a single friend for twelve years. How she grew up alone and in the dark. How her parents treated her as an invalid, as if she was

missing her arms or legs, not just her sight. The way her parents never gave her anything to do. Treated her as if she was a fragile doll made of the most delicate porcelain. They covered her in silk. Gave her a room, but never gave her freedom. They gave her an earth bending master. But her master was

only allowed to keep her on the first level. Never to progress forward. Never to do anything except be a doll. A material possession. It was when she turned twelve that she decided to start living. She entered the earth rumble.

And won.

She told me about how that had been her first real victory and how she had fed off that, growing and growing till she became an earth bending master. It gave her a sense of satisfaction knowing that her bending surpassed even her teacher's

She knew her parents loved her, in a way. But she wished that her parents would stop loving her as what they wanted to see, but instead they would love her as their daughter. For who she was, regardless of who that may be. She told me that as soon as she had met the avatar, she felt a kind of tug. A sort

of feeling in her chest when she met the team. She wanted them to go away and leave her alone at first. But not because she didn't like them, but because she didn't know how to act around them. She had never met kids her age before. In fact she had never met kids before. She told me that she had

saved the avatar and his friends but in doing so had exposed her earth bending skills. She had told her parents about what she was truly like and about how she wanted to be loved for who she truly was. Her father agreed and she thought that she had finally been accepted. She told me about how her father

had said he was wrong and then had corrected himself and said he was wrong about giving her too much freedom.

I felt a little choked up once I heard this. I couldn't believe that after everything her father would have the nerve to react like that. Part of me felt like curling up into a ball and crying once I heard that, the other part wanted to find her parents and tear their heads off.

Knowing me I would probably chose the latter.

"So then I joined that gang and lived happily ever after." She finished.

"So you mean you found a crush and discovered the true meaning of friendship and blah blah blah."

She nodded, "Friendship bit correct. Crush bit, not so much. I had a crush on Sokka for a while, but then I got over it. Besides he's really into Suki."

I nodded, I knew about Sokka, her story had explained all, and I knew about Suki. My favorite little Kyoshi prisoner who wouldn't stop crying about Sokka once in jail.

I understood.

"So," She said to me, "Tell me a story."

So I did. I told the story of a fire nation princess with a mother who always favored others above her. Who though she was a monster. About a brother who got burned and banished by his own father. A predatory father who only used his daughter for personal gain. A dysfunctional family, heart break and

most of all perfection.

It only took me a few sentences before a realized that the story was my own. This was my life story I was giving away. But I couldn't stop. I had wanted to pour out all the heart ache in my head for a while now. I had already told Terrae everything. She understood, but she had never judged me before. I

wanted someone who truly, absolutely hated me at first to hear my story and then judge for a second time. I wanted them to know that it wasn't my fault.

After I had finished Toph stood up.

"So, your Azula." She said to me.

It wasn't a question. Just a pure statement.

I nodded and stood up. What had I gotten myself into now.

Just because of a story.


	17. Solved chapter 17

Solved

I jump up and get into my fire bending stance. I'm ready to attack. As much as I like Toph I will not hesitate to kill her if she gets in my way. But I wait, and there's no attack.

"_She must be waiting for me to put down my guard. Then she'll attack while I'm not ready."_ I think to myself. I take a deep breath and stay in my fire bending stance. I'm not going to move. If she wants to attack me then she'll just have to do it. But after a few minutes and she still doesn't attack I'm

beginning to feel confusion. My assessment of Toph's character is that she's very confrontational. She'll attack first, I don't think of her as a plan kind of person. So why isn't she attacking. Without letting down my guard I ask her,

"Why are you attacking?" I ask her.

"Because," She says, "Zuko didn't want to attack you, we did it with out his knowledge, you've got to go talk to him."

I thought about the offer. It would be a weakness if I even _considered _it. But I did want to talk to Zuko. For selfish reasons of course. It was as if my father could read my thoughts.

I flinched. I wondered what he would say if he could hear me right now.

"Okay." I told her. I was sure that that one word would have a big affect on what would happen next. But I was willing to take the risk. It was nicer than knocking out or even killing Toph and just leaving the palace.

I nearly gasped out loud, but I managed to keep the sound from bubbling out of my lips. I had completely forgotten about Terrae. If I left then I would have left her behind and she would be faced with the questions about who I was and what she was doing with me. And that wasn't how you treated your

_friends_ That word, the way I was acting and my image about myself clashed horribly. I was ruthless Princess Azula. Terrae was merely one of my subjects, she was expendable. I tried to convince myself this while following Toph down the corridors back to the throne room but I couldn't help but feel as though

it would hurt terribly if Terrae was to be killed.

I shivered involuntarily, I didn't like friendship. It was a weakness, it only brought you down, kept you from going forward and reaching your full potential. Like with Mai and Ty Lee. I bit my lip to try to distract myself from the growing pain I felt.

"_See!"_ I thought viciously to myself, _"Friendship is a weakness. A horrible disease. One that I am __immune to."_ I snarled the last few words. I didn't have any friends or ties. Terrae was expendable, a pawn in my game. I didn't know why but it felt awful to think of her like that.

I followed Toph and entered the throne room. When I saw who was there I had to mentally stop myself from attacking. I reached inside my sleeves and racked my fingernails down my arms. The pain was the only way to stop myself from screaming profanities and throwing fire while launching myself into action and killing the three main people who had just entered the room by the looks of it only a few minutes before me.

Mai, the expressionless queen of darkness whose betrayal at the boiling rock had cut me as deeply as one of her knives.

Ty Lee, the bubbly pink acrobat whose had chosen Mai over me and paralyzed me at the boiling rock. Her betrayal had hurt me even more than Mai. Mai had a motive. Her feelings for my brother, or rather _love_ as the more sentimental called it. Ty Lee apparently had no motive, she was always gushing about

how awesome, beautiful and smart I was. Causing me to believe that she really was loyal to me. Then she went and stabbed me in the back. I snarled involuntarily under my breath. I had already forgiven them, as much as I could anyway. But it still hurt. That's why friendship was such a weakness. If I had

never thought of them as _friends_ rather than colleagues and pawns in my initial game it would never had hurt that much.

I dug my fingers into my arms. I couldn't think about this.

I pretended to smile happily. Happy that I was among all these "heroes".

Currently Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, Sokka, Toph, Katara, Suki and the avatar were in the room. If I was to escape I would probably take Terrae with me. I looked around quickly, analyzing the situation in a glance.

Katara was the closest person in the room to Terrae, if I made a move then I assumed Terrae would to. To my knowledge water benders could only bend with their hands. If Terrae grabbed her and held her hands behind her back she wouldn't be able to bend. I smiled to myself. If we had Katara then her

brother wouldn't attack, neither would the avatar. Watching them fight the avatar seemed to have a soft spot for Katara. I smiled to myself and scanned the room. I couldn't take Ty Lee, she was too flexible and as far as I knew she didn't have enough ties in this room to make too much of an impact. My

eyes scanned the room and fell on the blind girl standing next too me.

Toph had enough ties in this room to make an impact and she was closest to me, but earth benders could earth bend with all part of their bodies. I have known King Bumi to earth bend with his head. But if I held fire to her neck and told her if she made a move I would kill her then I would be able to handle her, wouldn't I?

I didn't know, was I starting to doubt my own abilities?

Zuko's head snapped up when we entered the room.

"Who's this?" He asked Toph.

"Somebody." Toph said evasively, then she tensed, "Zuko, did you know Azula's in this room?"

Mai whipped out two knives from her sleeves, Ty Lee gasped and looked around. Sokka managed to tug his sword out of it's sheath and started waving it around like some deranged megalomaniac.

Suki ducked Sokka's wild sword waving and quickly ran to Katara's side.

"Where?" Zuko asked while spinning around as if expecting me to suddenly jump out of the walls or from the ceiling.

I nearly sniggered, _"Look at them."_ I thought with contempt. That was so typical of "good guys" to not consider betrayal of someone in the room. Whereas I lived like that.

Toph sighed as if thinking the same thing. Terrae raised her eyebrows at me from across the room.

I mouthed, "She knows." To her.

Terrae's eyes widened and she mouthed back, "Is that safe?"

I shrugged in response.

I looked towards Toph.

"I need your water bag." She said to Katara.

My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

"_What's she doing?"_ I asked myself.

Toph grabbed the water bag and unceremoniously dumped the water it contains on my head.

I stood there coughing and spluttering as the mask my makeup had been washed away and my hair came out of it's tight bun.

I looked up as everyone in the room preceded to stare at me.

I glared at Toph even though she couldn't see it.

She grinned, oblivious of the looks she was getting.

"Problem solved."


	18. End chapter 18

End

It's been almost four months since Toph dumped a sack of water on my head. The events that occurred after that seemed to warm up my insides. So much that the freezing water seemed to have disappeared. First Mai pulled out a knife and nearly threw it, all the time glaring at me. But before she

could do anything Terrae grabbed her _own _knife out of her dress and held Katara in a headlock while keeping the knife pressed to her throat. Time seemed to freeze after that.

"Nobody make a move toward Azula or water girl gets it." She hissed. I could tell she was deadly serious and it gave me a small warm glowly feeling in my chest to see that she would turn on Katara and threaten an entire room full of _my_ enemies just to help me. She wasn't even doing it for

personal gain. The odds that she would get out of this alive weren't very encouraging. So that's when I started to move. I ran across the room and pinned Suki to the floor before the others had time to blink. I charged up my two key fingers and held them to her throat.

"Don't move." I was addressing everyone in the room including Terrae. The meaning of my sentence was don't kill her till we're out of danger. I looked pointedly at my ally before addressing Zuko.

"Zuzu," I could see him wince at the nickname, "We won't hurt your friends if you let us out." I didn't necessarily mean what I had just said. I would kill Suki and Katara if I could but it didn't

seem wise. If they were dead then their friends would chose to seek revenge. But if we knocked them out then everyone in the room would make sure that they were okay first before attacking, giving us enough time to escape.

I motioned to Terrae with one of my hands while keeping the other pinning Suki down. Terrae advanced cautiously while keeping the knife against Katara's throat.

"There's to many of them." Terrae whispered to me as soon as I was within hearing distance.

Suki seemed to have heard, she raised her head as much as she could, "_Azula_ can't take on everyone? Oh, that's a _tragedy_." She said sarcastically.

I ignored her, "What about conscience?" I asked Terrae, "The people here are too nice."

Terrae nodded, "If we hurt Katara or-um, whoever that is," She said, nodding her head towards Suki, "We guarantee ourselves a one way trip down road revenge."

I rolled my eyes, "She's Suki." I said, I like to be at least a little kind toward my prisoners before I kill them, "And your completely right."

Her eyes widened, "Oh no." She mouthed at me.

"Ingredients are so hard to get." I said equally sweetly to her.

"But you don't know what'll happen." She said to me, panic evident in her voice.

I smiled and grabbed a small bottle out of my sleeve, it was filled with a translucent red liquid, I

was told only to use this liquid in the case of an emergency.

When I was seven father had given me this bottle, filled with a concoction that would increase any fire benders ability to match any master on the day of sozin's comet. I had kept it hidden in my sleeves for my entire life. No one had ever found it. When I was taken to the mental hospital I had hidden

it in my mouth. The bottle was small enough for that. Nobody ever cleaned my room so I could hide it easily. The mixture was powerful, and this bottle contained the very last of it. The method of making it had been lost among the centuries. I wasn't even sure if this was even the mixture anymore.

The brewer that father had entrusted to make the mixture had been killed after he completed the task to ensure that knowledge of the mixture never came out. Father had never tried any and the last fire bender who had drunk the strange liquid had died. But I was sure I could do it. I was Princess

Azula. And swallowing my fears I quenched my thirst forrevenge by drinking the bottle in one gulp, but I had enough sense to leave a few drops in the bottle. In case of an emergency.

Terrae squeaked and leapt backwards, abandoning Katara in the process.

Zuko frowned as he noticed her reaction. Then he turned to face me. I was laughing. The liquid was filling my body with energy. I smiled as the flames radiated from my fingertips. I summersaulted through the air. For once the flames were beautiful instead of destructive. I giggled as I spun around,

the flames seemed to form shapes in the air. I twisted and jumped, it was like a dance. I had never felt so alive.

Then the smell if burning reached me. I frowned, it was wrong. The fire shouldn't cause destruction, it was beautiful. I spun again, throwing my self back into the dance.

That was when I heard Terrae, "Azula!" She screeched, "Snap out of it."

"Yes?" I asked demurely as I settled back down on the ground.

"Azula!" Terrae said hurridly, "The potion increases your strength but takes away the will to fight. It's not right. It's not you."

I didn't listen, "The fire's so pretty." I whispered staring at the flame dancing in my hand.

Zuko and the rest of them were looking at me in confusion.

"You mean she's not evil?" Asked the avatar.

"It's like poetry in motion." I said as I watched the flames.

"Apparently not," Zuko said as he scratched his head in confusion.

I don't remember what happened next, but apparently when I did snap out of it I was sitting on a chair in the same room as Team avatar. With Mai and Ty lee.

I stood up quickly, "Where's Terrae." I snapped.

"She's in a cell downstairs." Zuko told me, "She's fine."

"A cell!" I screeched at him.

"You care?" He said raising an eyebrow at me.

"Well, I-um..." I trailed off. "It doesn't matter!" I snapped at him.

"Actually it matters a lot," The avatar addressed me, "When you were," He paused, as if searching for the right word, "Happy." He concluded, "You said a lot of things." I felt a blush creeping into my cheeks. What had I said?

"What did I say?" I asked them, I hoped it was nothing about my promise, how I used to think Zuko was the best big brother in the world and all my other private thoughts. Though when I was in that state I could have said anything.

Surprisingly it was Sokka who answered me "Well first you talked about how Zuko was the best big brother in the world," I groaned, my worst nightmare. "Then you started saying that you hated your mother because she didn't appreciate craziness, or something like that. After that you said that

you thought Suki's eyes were really big and that Katara wasn't that bad." I raised my eyebrows. Where had _that_ come from? I never thought that, I looked towards Suki, her eyes _were_ quite large. And Katara was nice when she didn't know who I was.

"Go on." I said.

"Oh, yeah then you started saying how you missed Zuko but Ozai would kill you if you said that. And how you saved Zuko's life and he never knew. Then you said you loved your mother but she never approved of you, plus you started talking about hate and lies and broken promises and other random

things. Then you said you admired Toph and Aang was too nice. And to top it all off you started crying about how much it hurt when Ty Lee and Mai betrayed you."

I bit my lip.

Not good.

But then me and Zuko had made a deal. He would take away my bending. Not completely but I would have to take bending suppressants. If I could live without my bending for a year he would give it back. But during the year I would be living in the palace with my big brother and all my friends, which were basically Toph and Terrae (I made Zuko release her).

It's four months later and I think that everyone has finally started to trust me. I only have eight more months to go before I can feel complete, a princess with her bending.

The avatar and Suki are friendly, Sokka is still mildly distrustful but he's okay. Ty Lee and Mai have become my friends again. But they're still a little wary.

And Zuko's the best big brother ever.

Even though I feel better now that I'm home I still feel a little confined.

But on the plus side I get iced cakes whenever I want them.


End file.
